1,001 Chicago Afternoons

They and they were of types who usually don’t talk.

The first they were 30s-ish, white and cool, aging punks and hips whose once candy-colored hair was now seeing threads of white come through. A man and a woman riding a rocking, jumbly ‘L’ train toward the Loop. » Read the rest of this entry «

I made TV news on Wednesday. Twice.

The first time was the NBC 5 evening news in a piece about the Chicago Corruption Walking Tour I run.

Take a minute to watch the segment here.

The second time I made the news Wednesday was on the local PBS affiliate’s Chicago Tonight, when I was used as maybe not the greatest example in a question. » Read the rest of this entry «

The Rules: Print off the three cards below, grab two friends (or two groups of friends) and hit Chicago’s downtown.

Whoever gets a straight line of five in any direction first wins! » Read the rest of this entry «

It’s a beautiful summer day, I was out of town all weekend at a wedding and, well, I just wanted to do this.

So in lieu of your usual story today, a list of five of the greatest sentences that ever appeared in the Chicago Tribune, as per its online archives. » Read the rest of this entry «

“A girl who likes a good time, of course.”

“A girl who likes freedom in dress.”

“A girl who does as she pleases.”

“A girl who is young, naturally.”

Thus spaketh 17-year-old High Priestess Margaret Persell when two members the Royal Order of Flappers burst into the office of Chicago Mayor “Big Bill” Thompson to demand the city shut up those lousy ministers. » Read the rest of this entry «

The oldest written record of the Chicago Tribune is someone wishing them luck. » Read the rest of this entry «

I thought the day was petrichor, but it turns out I didn’t remember the word right. » Read the rest of this entry «

The drums could be heard even before we got to Daley Plaza.

Next, we saw the high school marching bands, majorettes twirling batons, a float with a semi-Germanic array of dirndl-babes waiting for a historical re-enactor in a leopard vest/undershirt combo to lead the gathering crowd in a rousing rendition of “Danke Schoen” and “Twist and Shout.”

“Unfortunately,” I joked to the tour group I was leading. “They didn’t re-enact the part of Matthew Broderick’s career where he vanished.”

I do realize that Broderick has a strong career on Broadway, but for having just snaked a crowd of tourists through a live Ferris Bueller re-enactment, that’s a pretty keen ad lib. » Read the rest of this entry «

Sometime between selling out through September, appearing on WBEZ and getting interviewed by the French-Canadian press, I realized that the Chicago Corruption Walking Tour is a hit.

I don’t have plans right now to add dates, in part because I want to have a summer too, in part because I’ve been asked to toss out the first pitch at the Kane County Cougars’ Aug. 18 Political Corruption Night and I throw like a drunken toddler.

So while I laze in parks and learn to pitch, here are a few ways you can spend your summer learning more about the city. It’s an incomplete list of tourism workers I have a fondness or slight bias toward, so I decided to call it the Partial Partial Guide Guide.

You don’t get to be Boing Boing’s pick for “Chicago’s hottest tourist ticket” without being able to rock a pun. And speaking of rocks… » Read the rest of this entry «

What of the man sitting on the Grand/State Red Line platform? The one gazing around with thick-rimmed, thick-lensed bifocals, the one with the short gray afro peeking from beneath a baseball cap?

What of that man with the baseball cap with the Green Lantern’s superhero logo? And a hoodie with the Green Lantern’s superhero logo? And two Green Lantern rings, one for each hand? And a massive tattoo of Green Lantern John Stewart on his right forearm?

The train was delayed and he sat on one of the few bench seats, hunched and leaning on the extended arm of the luggage he carried around town.

He smiled when I asked about his hero. » Read the rest of this entry «